Apr 1, 2024; Albany, NY, USA; LSU Lady Tigers forward Angel Reese (10) reacts in the fourth quarter against the Iowa Hawkeyes in the finals of the Albany Regional in the 2024 NCAA Tournament at MVP Arena. Mandatory Credit: Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports

The 2024-25 WNBA season is just days away from kicking off another year of ankle-breaking moves and long-range bombs from the best female athletes in the world of basketball. Unfortunately, amidst this exciting time, an X user made a disturbingly inappropriate comment regarding how the Dallas Wings stars look, leading Angel Reese to stand up and immediately come to their aid.

Teams in the NBA, as well as the WNBA conduct photoshoots in the days leading up to a new season to showcase the players on the roster, along with their new-look jerseys for the upcoming season. Oftentimes this is followed by nothing but excitement (or sometimes criticism) surrounding players or their new apparel. But this time, things were different.

A fan on X(formerly Twitter)  decided to take the Dallas Wings’ post as an opportunity to make some deeply transphobic comments. The post they reacted to was nothing more than a clip from the photoshoot where Wings’ stars Kalani Brown and Teaira Brown were seen jamming to some music along with Arike Ogunbowale.

The X user reposted the video on his feed with the caption, “They letting trans inna WNBA.” The post instantly went viral and garnered approximately 5.5 million views and counting, receiving major heat and backlash from other users on X.

The Chicago Sky’s latest addition, Angel Reese, also came across the post and decided to make a statement in her fellow WNBA players’ support. Reese retweeted the original post by the X user with the caption, “Yall never seen black tall women that are FINE??? yall so weird & insecure and it SHOWS!!!”

Apart from Angel Reese, a majority of fans on X went on to call out the user who had initially posted the comment.

One fan even said, “See how y’all constantly bring trans women into a conversation where there a literally NO TRANSWOMEN present. Y’all reaaaaaaaally hate transwomen (secret love though) and it’s actually disgusting how y’all treat black women.”

Another fan tweeted, “Hey bro, if none of the other women care, and the trans woman isnt significantly stronger than the other women, whats the issue? Why do you care about something that clearly isnt annoying the team in any way? They are vibing and u a karen.”

Here are a few more reactions from fans on X.

Fans coming together along with the players to help and support them is exactly what this situation seemed like it needed. Due to it, what started as a shocking interaction, ended with a beautifully heartwarming twist that had tones of inclusion and responsibility to it.

With the world having put them in their place, now we can only hope the ignorant fan has learned their lesson and will refrain from making such hateful comments again. After all, this phenomenon is hardly unheard of and needs to change absolutely immediately.

A history of shooting down rising WNBA stars

Credits: Grace Hollars/IndyStar / USA TODAY NETWORK

Since the start of the league, the WNBA wasn’t able to garner the same amount of attention and media coverage as the NBA did. However, over the years, fans have been showing love to the players and teams, which has led to a positive spike in the trajectory of the Women’s League.

Unfortunately, there are still many detractors and naysayers who have tried to bring down female athletes in any way possible. And the scandalous comment made by the X user has unfortunately only been a common trend up till now.

During the NCAA’s March Madness, Caitlin Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes went on to make it to the Finals for two years in a row. And one of the most common web searches was whether Caitlin Clark was transgender or not at the time.

This truly is a disgusting sight to see, especially in a day and age where the level of awareness is at an all-time high. However, in the same vein, it was also deeply satisfying to witness fans standing alongside the WNBA players to fight this battle women have had to fight for years.

Perhaps this outpour of support is a sign that times are finally changing.